Never Judge a Book by its Cover
by princessmikey14
Summary: Caila is a girl who had nobody. She was on the highway alone, bound for her sister's house when her car broke down. She was lucky enough to be saved by none other than Merle Dixon. She ends up back in Woodbury and has to make some difficult decisions for her own survival. Eventual Daryl/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: If you like the story line and such, please stick with it because Daryl won't appear for a while. I know it'll probably seem like a Merle/OC for a while, but I promise you that it's going to be Daryl/OC. **

"Mr. Governor, you wanted to see me?" Caila asked as she stood in his apartment. Merle, The Governor's-no pun intended-right hand man. Merle didn't have a right hand because he'd hut it off when he was handcuffed to a roof.

"I did actually," he said. "I wanted to ask you to help me with a little project."

"What kind of project?" she asked, tucking her curly hair behind her ear.

"Well, you said you wanna help out a little more 'round, here, right?"

"I did," she said.

"Well, I'm gonna send you with Merle here, after somebody that's a threat to us."

"Okay…When?"

"Now," Merle said. "Give 'er a gun."

The Governor walked over to where he had guns in a case and pulled one out and handed it to her, along with a knife. "Now you two be careful," he said.

"Thank you," Caila said. "Can I go back to my apartment and change?" she asked Merle, feeling like he was going to be the leader of this mission thing.

"'Long as I can watch," he winked. She just rolled her eyes and walked that way. With Merle, there wasn't much else you could do. That was just the way he was and it wasn't like she would actually let him watch her change. He followed her, being as they would just leave directly from there. Surprisingly, if you could get past the crude sexual comments and the occasional sexist or racial slur, he was kind of okay. He was pretty smart about all of this survival stuff and he had actually been the one to find and save her.

_"No, Goddamn it!" Caila called, hitting her steering wheel. The car was broke down on the side of the highway. She was on her way west, hoping that she could make her way to her sister's farm in Alabama. She hit her head into the steering wheel and wanted nothing more than to scream. She couldn't work on cars; it just wasn't ever her thing. She wanted to be out riding horses, not in an old garage with her dad. Now she regretted it. She was just thankful that she'd opted for the gun range instead of ballet-like her sister. Rather than sitting there like a sitting duck, she got out of the car and grabbed her duffle. She would have to find another car…one with keys in it. _

_ She walked down the highway, but stayed alert. The Georgia sun was beating down on her in the mid-afternoon heat. It didn't matter that it was May, Georgia was hot. It didn't help that she was wearing a black leather jacket, jeans, and brown leather boots. With her long, dark, curly hair down because her last hair tie broke yesterday. Suddenly, she heard this humming of vehicle behind her. She whipped around and saw an SUV coming her way. She stepped out of the way and the SUV drove up beside her. The window rolled down and a man ten to fifteen years older than her spoke with a thick southern draw. "What's a pretty girlie like ya doin' walkin' down this highway all by 'erself?" he asked. "Don't cha know it's dangerous, girlie?"_

_ Her first thought was,_ Oh my God, this guy is some pervert…I don't want to have to kill him, but I will._ Her hand shot to her gun and was ready to pull it on him. "I'm only doing this out of necessity," was her response. She opened that would do. _

_ "C'mon git in 'ere. I've got a town I can take ya to."_

_ "I'm fine on my own, thank you," she tried. She didn't add that she didn't want to get raped or murdered. _

_ "Look 'ere, girlie. I ain't got all day, an' it ain't nothin' let yer thinkin'. That's jus' what this place is."_

_ "I don't know you," she said. "Do the math, woman alone on the highway, you're some strange dude in a car. Dude, no. Just go away…" _

_ Then she heard it. She heard the growls and the moans coming from the woods a few yards away. She bit her lip, knowing that it would be a herd-moans in that high quantity couldn't mean much more than that. _

_ "Ya sure ya want me to go now?" he asked. With a sigh, she relented. _

_ "Fine, but I swear to God…if you try anything…" she trailed off and got in the passenger seat. Her gun was still gripped in her hand, ready for action if need be. _

Luckily, Merle hadn't tried anything. He drove quietly to Woodbury. Caila had been there ever since, but he was still one of the few people she spoke to. When they got to her apartment, she led the way up the stairs to the forth floor and into the room with a fourteen hanging on the door.

"Just wait out here, I'll be right back," Caila said. "And yes, you have to." She knew all of his phrases. They'd known each other for five months. That was a long time by apocalypse standards.

Soon, they were on the move. They were in search of the African American woman that had arrived with Andrea. Caila wasn't a fan of Andrea; she seemed a bit bossy and too…willing? Was that the right word? Everyone in town quickly knew that Andrea and The Governor were sleeping together…and Caila found The Governor on his own to give off a vibe that she didn't like. She just wasn't comfortable around him.

"A'right look here, girlie. I know ya ain't comfortable with killin' people, but this girl's a threat to our safety, so I don' need ya runnin' yer mouth 'bout it. It's gonna happen to this bitch and yer gonna accept it, 'cause I tol' ol' Phillip ya coul' do this," Merle told her seriously.

"Okay," was all she managed, she would never be comfortable with killing people. She followed Merle deep into the woods; she had realized he was comfortable in a setting such as this. To her, trees all looked the same and the ground was just grass and dirt. But Merle had talked about his little brother, Daryl a few times and how they'd been hunters. So, she felt like she could trust Merle not to get them lost in the woods.

Merle was glad she was light on her feet. She wasn't breaking any branches and that could give away their location to Michonne and give her the advantage. They both kept their eyes and ears open as they walked, just in case she was nearby. Merle knew that she would be light on her feet though too, anybody that could survive almost alone for so long had to be. So, he wasn't terribly shocked when Caila yelped behind him. Just as he had expected, Michoone grabbed her, holding her around the middle with Michonne's katana at her throat.

"I'll let her go if you stop following me," the woman with dread locks offered.

"I don't think so," Merle said.

"Then I'm gonna kill you and her," she countered.

"I'd love to see you try. This one here, she's a feisty-" Merle didn't have a chance to finish his sentence. Caila used all she could. She jabbed Michonne in the ribs with her elbow while stepping on her foot and pushing back. Before Merle realized what was going on, Caila pulled her gun out and held it towards Michonne's head. "What'd I tell ya?"

Michonne recovered from her run in with Caila and took off running. Without thinking, Caila fired two shots. She wasn't sure if any hit Michonne or not…but she tired. "Shit, I wasn't thinkin'…" the dark haired woman said. "I just rang the damn dinner bell…" she said, referring to how the bitters would come hungry now. They had surely heard her shots.

"Ya kept yerself 'live. That's somethin'. C'mon, we gotta go git 'er 'fore she gets 'way." She handled that well, Merle thought. She had escaped her own death pretty much. That had to count for something.

"Let's go." She couldn't be scared to go back out there. No matter how she felt about killing a person, Michonne had had Caila in a position where she could've been dead in seconds. This was something that she felt like she had to do; she couldn't just let this slide…

Again they moved through the woods, running this time. They didn't care about giving away their location. They had to get away from the bitters before they actually arrived. Abruptly, the forestry ended. They were on a road near some store. They both noticed a red SUV that was parked in front of aforementioned store. "Ya go 'round the back," Merle directed. Caila agreed and did what he told her.

She crept around the store and to the other side. She walked down the alley and around to the storefront. She saw a dark haired woman and a man with black hair, both holding guns on Merle. Of course, she had to do something. She walked over and held her own gun to the back of the woman's head. "I suggest you both drop your weapons."

"Maggie, just do what she says," the man said. Caila noticed that he was Asian when he turned around and set his gun down on the ground.

"Glenn, if this is the guy you told me about, I don't feel comfortable with it," her southern accent was very thick, proving she was from around here. After a standoff, so to speak, Maggie relented and put her gun down.

"Where's my baby brother?" Merle asked for the second time, waiting for Maggie and Glenn to give him the response he was looking for.

"Stay here and we'll go get him," Glenn said. He didn't want to bring Merle back to camp.

"Don' think so. If ya won' tell me now, yer gonna," Merle grabbed his gun from the ground and grabbed Glenn into a choke hold. "Git 'er!" he told Caila, pointing to Maggie. Though she didn't want to, she grabbed Maggie's arm and put her into the back seat of the car, still holding her gun on the short haired woman.

"Was all of that necessary?" Caila asked when Merle came out of the room where he was actually beating up Glenn. She looked at him with nothing but horror in her eyes. She could clearly hear everything that was going on. She had to wait for Merle because she hadn't been to this part of Woodbury before.

"Yeah, gotta find my baby brother somehow," he replied with a shrug.

"Don't you think a nicer approach would help?" she suggested. She just didn't want to see either of them hurt any more…They must be emotionally traumatized by now.

"Ya think ya coul' do better?"

"I do, actually." At least she could trust her hand…

"Fine, go."

"I will," she strolled into the room they were keeping Maggie in. She closed the door behind her and took a seat. "Look, I don't wanna do this any more than you want me to. But Merle just wants to find his little brother. I know he could've gone about this differently but…He didn't. And…I noticed you had baby formula…Why?"

"I want to see Glenn," was her response.

"I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't want to kidnap you. And look, maybe it you help me, I'll help you too. I'll let both you and Glenn go," I'll even take you back to wherever you came from myself," she added.

"I'm not talking until I see Glenn," Maggie replied.

Caila wasn't sure how long this was going to take…But she would keep working until Merle was reunited with his brother. She owed him that much.

**AN: Please review…I don't know if I plan on continuing this just yet…**


	2. Chapter 2

"Was that necessary?" Caila asked, wanting so badly to come up and hit Merle. He had just spent the last ten minutes beating up Glenn and there was nothing she could do about it. It wasn't until now that she had noticed what a brute he was. She hadn't ever had a problem with him before. He was her friend...But she believed that you shouldn't treat people in such a way. They could be reasoned with...they didn't need to be tortured.

"Ya, it was. This ain't really yer business, girlie. If ya wanna be involved then ya can, but if yer jus' gonna complain an' keep tellin' me what to do, ya can go elsewhere," he said coolly. Why would he care what she thought? His methods worked. He could do this on his own, he didn't need her.

"Merle..."

"Ya heard me," he snapped. She sensed something in him had changed. He was a man determined and he wasn't going to care who he affected while trying to get to his baby brother. In a way, it was admirable, but there were many, many other ways that he could go about it. He didn't have to torture people or hurt the closest thing to a friend he had.

"Fine," Caila said. She didn't want to sit by and let him do this...but what choice did she have? "Let me know when you let these people go." She walked off-stormed off, rather in direction of her apartment.

She went back into the one bedroom apartment and went straight to her room. She changed into a pair of loose sweat pants and a t-shirt before lying on her bed with an annoyed sigh. She couldn't do anything else. She just... "I could set them free," she said out loud. She didn't want to interfere with Merle's search for his brother, but knowing about what went on around here, she knew that nothing good could happen to him. She had heard about the heads the Governor kept in fish tanks. It was sick. She hated to hear of it, but it was another one of those that she couldn't do anything about. He was the leader of their town whether she liked it or not.

Back on topic...Once she thought of a plan, she could set them free. She could go with them, meet Daryl, and bring him back to Woodbury. It would be simple, a piece of cake, really. She could do that and then both sides would win. There would be noway that merle would just leave with them all, he had a cushy life here in Woodbury. He was well protected and he could do pretty much whatever he wanted.

She stood up again, changed back into her jeans and put her boots back on. Knowing that she couldn't take everything with her-that would be too obvious, she grabbed a few things and put them in a small purse that she'd gotten while in Woodbury. She put in a pair of sweatpants, an extra knife, her favorite book (something to do), and a few other necessities. She was about to head out again when she hear a knock on her door. She cursed under her breath and stuffed the bag under the bed before going to the door. Nobody could know she was leaving. She opened the door quickly, making her anger still seem present.

"What?" she asked Merle. Who else would be there? She knew it was him before she even opened the door. He was the only visitor she ever got.

"I need ya to keep real quiet 'bout them bein' there. Only the Governor knows."

"Seriously? That's what you're going to come here and tell me?" she gave him a slanted eyed look that she only used when she was _really_ mad.

"Yeah," he said.

"Fuck you," she started to slam the door but he stopped it with his hand.

"I'd love it if you did," he winked.

"That's not even funny right now, just leave me alone."

"Yer mad over some dumb kid? I misjudged ya, girlie. Ya ain't tough, yer weak."

She balled up her fist and threw it at his face, hitting his cheek under his right eye. "I'm not weak, I just have a Goddamn conscience!" she exclaimed, slamming the door when he stumbled back from her punch. She was sure he'd taken harder punches, but she assumed that there would be some shock that would keep him back for a second. She honestly didn't know what he'd do...She didn't think that he'd hit her back, but she knew that he would yell...but he was still the wild card.

"Caila! Open this Goddamn door!" Merle shouted, banging on the door.

"Go away!" she replied.

"I'll break the Goddamn thing down," he warned.

"Do it!" she shouted back childishly. And he would've too, but he knew that would wake her neighbors and draw attention to the situation. He didn't want that so he sighed and started to walk away, fortunately for him, Caila opened the door. "I know you won't ever say it, but you didn't mean it," she said. She knew Merle and he would never apologize for something so tedious-she didn't know if he'd apologize for anything, but especially not that. "Come in if you really want…"

His jaw was firmly set, but he walked through the wooden doorway anyhow. In all his life, he hadn't ever met somebody that would put up with so much of his shit and not even be really mad. And, she was intuitive to what he meant and what he didn't. She took his vulgar suggestions with grace and didn't let them bother her. That was just the way Merle was and you had to either deal with it or avoid him.

"Merle, I can't sit by and watch you hurt them, you know me and I know you. We usually agree but this isn't something we're going to agree on…" Caila sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just-"

"I ain't gonna kill 'em," he murmured.

"Good…But torturing them isn't much better. There's another way to find your brother. You don't have to become The Governor. You may be a lot of things, Merle Dixon, but somebody who kills innocent people with another choice, you are not. I know you've been the 'assassin' so to speak for The Governor, but you kidnapped these people and I'm sure that they have a bunch of people they need to get back to! Hell, they had baby formula with them when we took them…That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?" She paced about her apartment while she spoke, constantly tucking the curly hair behind her ear. Even though she'd done that countless times and there was none there now, it was a nervous tick she'd always had. Whether she was sad or angry or anything, she would tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Can't jus' let 'em go!" he exclaimed. "I ain't never gonna find my baby brother if I do-"

"You will, I have a plan, okay? And it'll work. They trust me more than they trust you. I'll let them go and beg to come back to their camp-saying how things are awful, and then I'll find Daryl and get him to come back here…It's easy and then we both win. You get your brother and I get to have a clear conscience."

He had to admit, it might actually work. Caila hadn't done anything wrong to Glenn or Maggie, so how could they refuse? It was smart, really.

"Okay," he agreed with a sigh. He hated letting things out of his own hands, but he didn't have much of a choice. She wouldn't let him torture them into talking, and who knew if they ever would? This way…it would work. If Merle had ever come close to trusting anybody but Daryl, it would be Caila. Despite everything sexist he'd ever said…She was different. She disproved most of the stereotypes about women. She wasn't 'fragile' she knew how to shoot a gun-really well actually, and she could take care of herself. She was somebody he could count on to work with.

"Great! Thank you," she said genuinely happy. If this had been the world where people didn't have to be worried about being eaten by rotting, dead, former humans, she may have actually considered hugging Merle…As odd as it sounded. But, this wasn't that world, this was the world where either you live or you die, either you fight and survive or you give up and die. You couldn't walk down the street to a Starbucks or to a McDonalds. Here you had to fight to keep yourself breathing. Now, you didn't care about human contact. However, it was necessary to speak to another person not to loose your sanity. But that was it. Other than that, you were on your own to live…Yourself was the only person you could count on.

**AN: Chapter two…please review…**


	3. Chapter 3

For some reason, while Caila's hands were bound behind her back, something was over her face-that felt like an old style potato sack, and the Governor referred to her as Merle, the trader's 'girlfriend' she thought of the one and only kiss they shared. It had been months, and all she really remembered was the strong smell and taste of alcohol from both parties.

_ Caila had been in Woodbury nearly a month and she was just settling into her apartment. She was arranging some of her items that they'd given here when there was a knock on the door. She went and answered it and was surprised to find Merle on the other side with a full bottle of whiskey. _

_ "Thought I'd share," he said walking in. He didn't want to wait for her to invite him in, he walked into the kitchen area and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet._

_ "Well aren't you generous," she grinned. He poured them each about half of the mug. "I bet I can drink this before you do," she said, hopping up onto the counter and taking her mug in her hand. He rolled his eyes._

_ "Betcha can't," he replied. _

_ "Oh, but I can. Let's go, right now!" _

_ "A'right," he agreed. They both quickly downed all that was in their cup and set them both down on the counter. _

_ "I won!"_

_ "Bull shit, girlie, I won."_

_ "No."_

_ "Yeah."_

_ "No, let's go again, cheater."_

_ That's what they did, quite a few times. Merle was probably a bit tipsier then Caila-he had been drinking like a fish, but they both were. And, out of nowhere, the kiss kind of just happened. They were standing in the kitchen-Caila had her back against the counter and was facing towards him. Merle walked over closer to her and took her wrists that were on either side of her in his hands before roughly putting his lips on hers. _

_ Caila was shocked. She didn't know what to do…So after only a moment, she lightly pushed Merle's shoulder back from her. It was one of those things she had promised herself that she wouldn't do. She wasn't going to get involved with anybody now that the world was over. _

_ "C'mon you're drunk. You can sleep on my couch tonight," her words weren't as slurred as she thought it would be. She pulled the drunken man over to the living room and made him lie down. Once he had she put a blanket over him, cleaned up in the kitchen, and went to bed herself._

"Fight to the death!" The Governor exclaimed. Someone pulled whatever was on her face off and Caila was standing in the middle of a crowd of people with Merle and a man she didn't recognize. But somehow she knew he had to be Daryl-Merle's little brother. They had the same eyes and there was something else that made her believe it was him.

"Jus' follow my lead," Merle whispered to her. He proceeded to begin beating up Daryl. Caila was a little surprised by this…but she couldn't help but think that he had other plans. He wasn't just going to bow down to the Governor's wishes. He wanted them all to go against each other.

Before either Caila or Daryl could learn the details of Merle's master plan, gunfire pulled them from their fight. The air around them filled with smoke and Caila's lungs felt like they were on fire, she had asthma as a child and hadn't had problems until now. "Merle," she tried to call. But her chest was too tight and she wasn't sure that anybody could hear her.

Apparently somebody had, she felt a hand on her arm and was led from the area. Caila didn't realize that Daryl was the one leading her out of the town until she noticed a crossbow in his hand. Merle had mentioned that he used one at one point. "You're…Daryl," she whispered. He gave her a look that was a 'how the hell do you know?' type face. "Merle told me about you…Wait! Where is Merle?" she started to panic.

"M'right 'ere girlie," Merle said from behind her. Daryl released her arm as Merle fell into step with her.

"Oh good! You're okay!" she exclaimed. She wouldn't want to go into a group with these people that she didn't know. They went so far that they ended up in the woods. The leader of the group-or the man that Caila assumed to be the leader stopped them. He turned to Daryl.  
"He's not comin' back with us," Rick looked over at Merle, signifying that was who he meant. "Her neither. She was part of Maggie an' Glenn's kidnapping."

"Whoa-" Caila started to protest.

"Hey-" Merle had said at the same time as Caila.

"End of discussion," Rick said.

"Y'all left me for dead on a roof! Ya think I ain't still pissed off at ya? Who do ya think ya are tellin' me I can't come back?" Merle was livid. "Y'all are-"

Suddenly, Rick's fist connected with Merle's face and the latter fell to the ground.

"Asshole," Rick murmured.

"What the hell!?" Caila exclaimed. "You didn't have to-"

"What are you, his girlfriend?" the ex-sheriff asked sarcastically.

"What if I was? What the hell would you do about it, punch me too?"

"Who would it matter to? You're just some asshole that kidnapped our group…"

"To be fair, I was trying to get everyone to let them go! I felt guilty as hell, so maybe you should know the whole story before you go yelling at me. Merle was going to help me let them go. None of you get it."

"Daryl, a word," Rick said, leading the other man out of the clearing and towards the road. Caila sighed and leaned her head against a tree. Suddenly, Woodbury didn't look too bad. There was a dictatorship there and they could be ruthless, but now she didn't even have a bed to sleep in. She had the clothes on her back and the shoes on her feet. That was it; she didn't have a weapon or any food. She couldn't help but think how much hell the next few days would be…

Merle was standing in a few seconds. "Can't believe that he jus' hit me."

"I know," Caila said, tucking her dark hair behind her ear. "But just leave them for a minute. It's not going to help either of our asses if you go out there and go off on Rick again."

"But-"

"Merle…Please, I beg you not to go out there…" He scuffed the ground with his boot and let out a sigh.

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"Whatever."

"C'mon," Daryl came back through the clearing with a backpack on his shoulders. "He don' wantcha to stay, guess I can't neither," the younger Dixon brother said to his older brother.

Merle laughed with a smile on his face as he threw an arm over Daryl's shoulder. "That's my brother. Tol' ya I'm the only one that's ever gonna care 'bout ya."

Caila already noticed a strange change in the elder Dixon. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was one there. He was more…closed off with Daryl there too. With just her, he was more and almost even relaxed.

**AN: Sorry this was shorter than some of my last chapters have been. It wasn't my best either, please review. **


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